Sentencing stems from 2015 incident with a woman from Mescalero

LAS CRUCES – Darwin Neal Kinzhuma, 52, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, was sentenced Monday in a Las Cruces federal courtroom to 81 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for his conviction on a sexual abuse charge.

Kinzhuma also will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence, according to information from the Las Cruces office of the U.S. Attorney. He was arrested on March 23, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with sexually abusing a Mescalero Apache woman on June 28, 2015, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation that adjoins the village of Ruidoso. Kinzhuma subsequently was indicted on the same charge on Aug. 17, 2016.

On Dec. 21, 2017, Kinzhuma pleaded guilty to the indictment charging him with aggravated sexual abuse. In entering the guilty plea, Kinzhuma admitted that on June 28, 2015, he sexually abused the victim, according to the release.

The case was investigated by the Mescalero Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

The case was brought pursuant to the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Pilot Project in the District of New Mexico, which is sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women under a grant administered by the Pueblo of Laguna.

The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project seeks to train tribal prosecutors in federal law, procedure and investigative techniques to increase the likelihood that every viable violent offense against Native women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both. The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project was largely driven by input gathered from annual tribal consultations on violence against women, and is another step in the Justice Department's on-going efforts to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.

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